Sofra, Zagreb, Croatia

Sofra - a good authentic Bosnian restaurant. Great food, not so great service, but that can also count as authentic. Featured and well graded also on Gastro.hr. Someday there will be no smoking inside. Maybe it will be less authentic, but therefore more pleasant.


Vjenceslav Nadinic (Nadinić) - WebSphere Technical Specialist at IBM office in Zagreb. Had a lot of different jobs prior to IBM, among others also at HRT and Bank Austria (now UniCredit Group). Enjoys visiting military and aviation museums and recently read His Dark Materials, the Trilogy where The Golden Compass came from.


Traditional Turkish coffee with copper set and Rahat Lokum, Turkish Delight. Neatly served in Sofra.

Piano bar, Sheraton, Zagreb, Croatia

Piano bar in Hotel Sheraton in Zagreb. Easy, cool place. Guest-torrent. Occasionally dodgy figures. Convenient. Classy bear'n'peanuts bar. So far, no bombing here ;)


Grzegorz Przybycien - BPTSE program manager for CEEMEA region at IBM office in Krakow, with a tongue-twisting name - what else can you expect from a proper Polish guy :) Originating from Rzeszow, spent half of his childhood in Tripoli, Lybia. AGH graduate, worked for Comarch, Prokom (acquired by Asseco) and DRQ. Loves mountaineering with his wife, practicing tai chi, listens to openculture podcasts, started learning Spanish and recently read a leisure book bought in Tenerife. One day he will have a shipping company, while living somewhere on Mediterranean coast. Ole!


Probably the largest beer selection in Zagreb. In Hopdevil Belgian Pub, just behind Sheraton Hotel in Branimir Centar.


In Hopdevil you can taste oddities like Trappistes Rochefort 8. Different. Drink and support the monestary.

Palačinkarnica Lectarjev Hram, Kamnik, Slovenia

Palačinkarnica Lectarjev hram, a tiny sandwich'n'pancakes place. Recommended if in town. Rainy, cold day. Kamnik center. It used to be a different kind of place with Room 57 - codeword for not-official meetings. Drink agenda.


Tilen Travnik - Project Manager and User Interface specialist at Hal Interactive. His grandparents grew up in USA, he did in Kamnik. Recently graduated at Biotechnical Faculty and is now Environmental Protection postgraduate student. Was involved with SKK, also as president. In his thesis he proved that A simple preparative method for isolation of intact mitochondria from Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast does not work. Recently married, expecting a child, practicing Makoto Kai. Reading A Whole New Mind - getting to know why right-braineers will rule the future. One day he will develop and promote the idea of open-source-like environmental protection activities. Count me in.


Sandwich called Attraction. Name can be very deceiving. Was good though. Company running Lectarjev Hram is called Atrakcija = Attraction. There you go.


Pancake called Inspection. Well worth inspecting it. To the very last sour cherry. Recommended.

Tratoria Hum, Komiža, Vis, Croatia

Kavana Pizzeria "Tratoria" Hum - Somewhat odd place. On waterfront. First place from pier, first place for beer. Good pizza. Weird interior with an interesting installation inside (see picture below). Waitress said it this place used to be an airport. Island humour. Has billiard tables. Laid back. Vis is not definitely Hvar.


Jasmina Bergoc (Bergoč) - Software Group Marketing colleague at IBM Slovenia office. Grew up in Pivka. Finishing FDV. Did not work for Mice, the team building events organization company. Likes mountaineering, loves sea and her golden retriever Brin and recently read Dressed For Death by Donna Leon, which she cannot recommend.


Mark Toplak - Software Support Center Manager for several products - from Tivoli, Websphere and other brands, several operating systems and hardware platforms - at IBM Slovenia office. IBM Slovenia has second level support center for several products from Tivoli and WebSphere brand. Grew up as fourth generation native Ljubljana citizen, now lives in Zapuže, which is not Radovljica. FS graduate, as a student also tested medicines for money. Worked for Intertrade (today S&T), part of which became IBM, went to MZR and returned again to IBM. Working on his MBA degree at Warwick, together with Nadim, Mazen, Predrag and others. Avid skier, sailing skipper, drives BMW 1200ST. Recently read Prišleki by Lojze Kovačič, which he highly recommends.


A puzzling installation inside Hum restaurant. Dijana, the waitress, said it's a sex machine, but that is just one of many interpretations. Islands tend to get lonely off season.


Jastožera, an amazing restaurant in Komiža on Vis. Even worth just to peek inside for a moment.

Lungo Mare, Hvar, Croatia

Lungo Mare. Winners of Fine Bite 2008. We had a fine bite, too. One cannot not recommend it. As many other places here. Hvar. One of the top islands in Croatia. Where policemen are easy and Germans sometimes lose boats.


Bernard Grum - Academic Initiative representative at IBM Slovenia office. Grew up in Ljubljana, now dwells in Pšata. Not related to Slavko Grum. FOV graduate. FOV Research Assistant. Likes the sound of sawing machine - spent 4km of thread for all the curtains in his house. Give such statement, not many men can. Argentinian tango dancer. Two kids. Recently read Coelho's Alchemist and recommends Richard Bach's Seagull. Given excess resources he would try many professions, get knowledge and skills and optimize them to best possible level. Going deep, broad and far. I second that.


Female boss Sana. Beside Lungo Mare they also manage Kroatien.es - Hvar tourist services site.


Evening was lively, wine was aplenty. Nobody hurt, all good luck.

Cafe Riva, Trogir, Croatia

Cafe Riva. Riva = riverfront. One of many, many bars and restaurants on the Trogir riverfront. Great view. Great weather. Off season. Mediocre services. Cold beer. Good times ahead.


(Tomaž) Tomaz Paternoster - recently hired WebSphere Software Services colleague at IBM Slovenia office. Paternoster = "our father". From Breg pri Litiji. Just about to graduate at FRI. Was part of FRI/CREA USA Tour 2008. Worked for Marand. Mountain biker. Preparing for his first 21km Ljubljanski Maraton. Sci-Fi fan. Reading Thimoty Zahn's Star Wars and also recommends The Silmarillion. Plays guitar, taught by Eva Černe's father. Listens to Symphonic Metal music.


Gregor Primc - Cognos software sales colleague at IBM Slovenia office. Grew up in Ljubljana, now lives in Zbilje. FE graduate. EF MBA postgraduate. Worked for SAP and Perspektiva as broker. Mountaineering, tennis. Ran 21km Ljubljanski Maraton in 2007. Has all Kiyosaki books and recently finished David Bach's Start Late, Finish Rich.


Trogir = a small Dubrovnik. Beautiful. Dalmatia. Croatia. We like.


Peko - Slovenian shoemaker. Suggested change in business model: shoes to real estate. Store on waterfront in Trogir.

Shifting gears

New job. Same company. New brand. WebSphere. BPM. SOA. New team. New partners. New challanges. A lot to learn. A lot to do. Same 24 hours per day. Shifting priorities. Shifting gears. Blog goes in express mode. Shorter sentences. Tag-like. Same messages. Same idea. Buckle up.

Pogača, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Pogača - no website, no marketing, no image, no frills - but very good pleskavica, kajmak and prebranac (according to Jani - as it was not on stock). Recommended, but for food only - take away anyone?


Jani Anzin (Anžin) - project manager in Investment preparation and technology development department at Mercator, a major retailer in Slovenia and among the majors in Western Balkans and biggest Slovenian corporation. He grew up in Spodnje Jarše, president of his class at ŠCRM in Kamnik (good times) and EF graduate with Mercator scholarship. Did some DJ-ing when younger, also belongs to ancient society of Collegium tourist guides and is a proud member of Kotalkarji group (check them out on Facebook). 12 years successful "career" at RST scouts, enthusiastic beach volley player and excellent shaker of mojitos and pina coladas that might one day run his own beach side leisure&party place - much like Star Beach in Hersonissos.


Approximately 37 years old very recently hired waitress most probably did not undergo stringent introductory new hires training that big corporations to the like of IBM and Mercator have in store for their corporate slaves wannabees. But then again, Pogača is no corporate fortress, despite the fact that some very typical behavioral patterns were pretty obvious - miss waitress was refering to the kitchen staff as "them" ... talking about cross departmental collaboration and horizontal thinking traits :)

For centuries hidden African-Latin-Asian fine art of Roller Skating without Roller Skates has finally reemerged under the Alps and is starting to spread all over the globe.

Jani's Pina Colada not-any-more-secret recipe:

3cl Havana white rum

3cl Coconut Syrup

2cl liquid cream

1dcl pine-apple juice

ice cubes

My where-to-get-free-photos recipe:
1 iStockphoto
1 sloppy reading of terms and conditions
1 apologize later

Ponvica, Brezovica, Slovenia

Ponvica - there's something about this place that makes you wanna go astray and far to get there. It's well worth it.


(Tomaž) Tomaz Jakse (Jakše) a.k.a. Fonzi - proud member of Slovenian Police Cyber Crime department. Ljubljana native lives close to Šmarna Gora and counts himself among Šmarnogoraši - people who are fighting regular-up-and-down-Šmarna-Gora addiction. I know many of them :) Graduated at Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security - belonging to University of Maribor, but actually headquartered in Ljubljana. Belongs to the ancient society of Collegium tourist guides (like myself), drives BMW 650CS bike, which already earned him a bad knee injury and thus costing him a more active involvement with Taekwon-do at Hyong club. A very active traveller that took his 16 year old VW Golf to Marocco and will one day go to Honk Kong - maybe without his Golf. Offloading daily job worries, he would devote himself - among others - to photography, which he is currently practicing with Canon EOS 400D and publishing some of them on his JFT blog. No like winter, in southern places, devote he would.


Likable terrace, friendly staff. Ponvica (small frying pan) is surely recommended.


Fonzi's white VW grandpa pushing into 19 years of age. Anybody wanna take him to Kazantip?

Govinda's, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Govinda's - a new vegetarian restaurant with strong Indian influence. First from that chain in Slovenia and presumably first in the self-service style. Do have a try. A very interesting experience. Placed next to their core consumer group - Slovenian Krishna Society.


(Matjaž) Matjaz Hoyer - co-founder and manager of Zeus - the accounting service house. Recently moved back to Komenda, EF graduate - where he was also very active in student politics and member of student parliament at ŠOU, worked in sales at Noviforum - the company that developed Najdi.si. Currently neglecting his golfing career, but therefore enjoys time with his two year old daughter that much more. When Zeus will be sold for many millions of Euros, he will devote his time to helping kids in poverty around the world - unlike myself he believes that our world is not actually on a good way to solve the poverty problem. I hope he will change his mind and that time will show it to be right.


Simple, clean, different. Spicy, fresh and tasty.


Govinda is the name of young Krishna, herding cows and protecting them. Before he turned into a fierce fighter helping Arjuna. Yes, enormous simplification is at work here :)